Consumer Affairs & Relations

A number of retailers saw changes at the top this past year. Here are the ones I found the most interesting:

Abercrombie & Fitch: The abrupt departure of longtime chief Michael Jeffries presents the former teen powerhouse with an opportunity to bring in a badly needed breath of fresh air.

In his day, no one could touch Jeffries, whose transformation of Abercrombie into a cool, exclusive club is a textbook example of brilliant, holistic retail branding. But Jeffries failed to keep up with the changing times. He seemed blind to the recession.

Chain Store Age wishes everyone a safe and happy holiday!  Our offices will be closed Wednesday, December 24th,  Thursday, December 25th and Friday, December, December 26th.  We will return to normal business hours on Monday, December 29th.  We wish you and your family a joyous and peaceful holiday season!

Family Dollar delayed a shareholder vote on a potential acquisition by Dollar Tree until Jan. 22 in a move that allows more time to contemplate a rival bid from Dollar General.

Family Dollar convened as planned on Tuesday and, based on insufficient votes, subsequently adjourned its Special Meeting of Stockholders on the proposed transaction with Dollar Tree.

Retailing Today will be closed for Christmas, Dec. 24 through Dec. 26, and will publish again on Monday, Dec. 29. The editor and publisher of Retailing Today would like to wish you and your families very best wishes for a happy, healthy and joyous holiday.

Cheers, Mike Troy Editor, Retailing Today

Los Angeles – Change is occurring at American Apparel Inc., and it may be coming from external as well as internal sources. The board of directors of American Apparel has confirmed that it has received an indication of interest to acquire the struggling company for $1.30 to $1.40 per share.    The identity of the potential buyer has not been disclosed, but in a press release American Apparel said it “takes these matters seriously, and will evaluate this proposal in the ordinary course of business. 

A federal judge has ruled that customers suing Target for last year’s data breach may move forward with their claims.

U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson in St. Paul, Minn., dismissed claims by plaintiffs in certain states but largely denied Target's request to toss out the proposed class action lawsuit.

Magnuson rejected Target's argument that the consumers lacked standing to sue because they could not establish any injury.

Framingham, Mass. – About 1.16 million customer payment cards may have been exposed in a security breach at Staples Inc. earlier this year. In an update on the breach situation, Staples said that criminals deployed malware to some POS systems at 115 of its more than 1,400 U.S. retail stores, providing access to data from purchases made from July 20 through Sept. 16, 2014. 

PLEASANTON, Calif. - For the second year in a row, Safeway Inc. has received a perfect score of 100% on the Corporate Equality Index (CEI), a national benchmarking survey and report on corporate policies and practices pertinent to LGBT equality, administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.